- Whereas, existing California law (Assembly Bill 951, 2008) establishes that the contingent, part-time faculty workload is capped at 67 percent, amounting to no more than 10 units in the quarter system or 6 in the semester system amounting to approximately two to three classes per term; and
- Whereas, 68.9 percent of faculty at California’s community colleges hold non-tenure, part-time positions and teach the majority of courses for the majority of the student population at these colleges; and
- Whereas, to make ends meet, many part-time faculty hold teaching positions at two or more campuses leaving them little to no time to spend at any one campus beyond the time they spend in the classroom; and
- Whereas, little to no access to part-time instructors may result in lower student success and completion rates; and
- Whereas, the more time adjunct faculty spend on one campus, the better the chances that they can offer their time to students to address student concerns, thus helping raise student success and completion rates overall; and
- Whereas, the more time adjunct faculty spend on one campus, the better the chance adjuncts will be able to collaborate with their fellow colleagues, attend campus-provided professional development, and learn about their campus’ student services enabling them to guide their students to these important services if and when they are needed; and
- Whereas, Assembly Bill 705 (Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks) requires that all California community colleges maximize the probability that students complete their transfer level coursework in basic English and basic math, and that many community colleges are responding by creating corequisite courses that add an additional 0.5 to 2 units to transfer level English, amounting to transfer level courses with the total number of units ranging from 4.5 to 6 units.
- Therefore, be it resolved, that the Foothill – De Anza Faculty Association supports Assembly Bill 897 (Medina 2019) changing the workload cap of adjunct faculty to 80 percent FTE (Full-Time Equivalent)
Editor’s Note: Go to the Fall 2018 CPFA Journal edition for other resolutions by CFT and UPTE as well as talking points in support of this bill.